Armoured vehicle said to be unsafe

Press, 24 December 1985, Page 6

Armoured vehicle said to be unsafe

NZPA-AP Washington Tests of the United States Army’s new personnel carrier had shown that it was more vulnerable and the soldiers inside were more likely to be killed or wounded than the service was willing to admit, said Congressional and Defence Department sources. The tests were conducted in the middle of the year in

answer to criticism of the vehicle, known as the Bradley fighting vehicle. The exact test results are classified, but they were described late last week by Congressional and Defence Department sources who said that they had seen the data. “They showed that it’s a very dangerous vehicle to be in on a battlefield, more dangerous than the Army

wants to admit. The Army is putting the best face on it,” said one. Lieutenant-General Louis Wagner told a Defence Department news conference two weeks ago that the weapon was the finest personnel carrier in the world. The dispute over the test results is the latest round in the long-running controversy over the Bradley, a

25-tonne armoured vehicle that looks like a tank and is designed to carry soldiers to the battlefront. It is armed with a 25mm cannon, a heavy machine-gun, and anti-tank missiles. The Bradley went into production in 1981 and more than 2000 have been delivered at a cost of about ?U51.56 ■ million ($3.09 million) each. The Army is believed to want to buy 6832

of them. Criticisms of the Bradley have centered on contentions that it would burn too easily, because its armour was made of aluminium. The latest tests may provide new fuel for Congressional critics who want to cut the programme, particularly because Congress is constricted by new legislation requiring spending cuts to balance the Budget..